Mitsubishi Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) Is A Modern Marvel

[CEATEC 2015] When it comes to us humans, we are always on the lookout for better ways of doing things, being more efficient and all that jazz. After all, it makes perfect sense – why bother being stuck with the old, when you can have something that is not only newer, but better? The study of astronomy has been an area of knowledge for a long, long time now, and we are always hunting down for more powerful telescopes to check out far flung stars and the ilk. Mitsubishi has aided this noble effort with their Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), where it is capable of achieving a performance level that far exceeds those of conventional telescopes.

For starters, this TMT is able to gather light in a 30 meter long main mirror (hence its name) that comprises of a 492 mirror segment. This would enble it to deliver a far more superior and precise level of control in the particlar direction, which would be somewhere in the performance equivalent of a 2,000-ton telescope. The distortion of the segment that actually holds up the 100 ton plus mirror is approximately 1mm, which is an impressive achievement by itself. The TMT was designed for near-ultraviolet to mid-infrared (0.31 to 28 μm wavelengths) observations, where it boasts of adaptive optics that can assist in correcting image blur.

It has so far received government-level support from a range of R&D spending nations such as Japan, China, Canada and India, although the TMT does come mired with controversy as it is being constructed on land that native Hawaiians deem as sacred. Construction is said to be completed and fully operational on Mauna Kea by the time 2024 rolls around.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Gadgets
Tags: CEATEC, ceatec 2015, mitsubishi, Science